NO LABEL: CHINA WILL JOIN U.S. NAVY WAR GAMES IN PACIFIC NEXT YEAR

2014 event will be first for China; 22 countries participated in biennial exercises in Hawaii last year

The Chinese Navy will participate in the U.S. Navy’s Rim of the Pacific exercises in Hawaii next year, marking the first time that China will send ships and troops to the multinational war games.

The U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet in San Diego runs the biennial event, and last year five San Diego warships attended.

China’s involvement is an about-face from the last round of RIMPAC, in 2012. Back then, China wasn’t invited, and Chinese media outlets were cool to the naval exercises.

One story in an English-language Chinese newspaper said, “The exercise is nothing but a big party held by the U.S., which is in a melancholy state of mind due to difficult realities.”

It’s unknown how many ships or planes China will bring to the war games, which include anti-piracy training, shooting and bombing practice and exercises to prepare for response to disasters such as floods and earthquakes. U.S. law may restrict what exercises can involve China.

A spokesman for the Third Fleet said U.S. officials were informed this month of the Chinese Navy’s intentions.

“Each participating nation determines their level of participation and the training objectives for their forces,” Navy Cmdr. Charlie Brown said in an email. “The planning for RIMPAC 2014 is still in very early stages.”

In 1998, the United States allowed a small Chinese contingent to observe RIMPAC. But that was before Congress in 2000 restricted American-Chinese military contact and required an annual report on Chinese defense capabilities.

According to the latest China report in May, Beijing announced an 11 percent jump this year in its military budget to $106 billion, although actual spending is believed to be higher.

By any count, China is continuing more than two decades of military spending growth, which includes ambitions to make a secondhand aircraft carrier operational this year and deliver an advanced fighter jet as early as 2018, the report stated.

In the last few years, China has upset its neighbors in the South China Sea by making claims to natural resources around the Spratly Islands that are still unresolved.

China severed military ties with the United States in early 2010 over American arms sales to Taiwan. High-level discussions between U.S. and Chinese defense leaders have slowly resumed since 2011.

Possibly in response to China’s military activity, other Asian nations have increased their participation in the RIMPAC exercises, which are intended to allow nations to work together in a crisis.

In 2012, 22 countries attended, a 50 percent increase from two years before. Russia was a player for the first time.